6th Year Woes, Foes, and Love
by missthisthat14
Summary: At a time when no one could be trusted, your friend could be your foe, and your family was under the constant threat of YouKnowWho, Hogwarts produced a group of stutdetns that would turn out to be the greatest Aurors of all time. These Aurors would ...
1. Chapter 1

**_Complete Summary:_** At a time when no one could be trusted, your friend could be your foe, and your family was under the constant threat of You-Know-who, Hogwarts produced a group of students who would turn out to be the greatest Aurors of all time. These Aurors would change teh Wizarding World. They would give the magical community a temporary sense of security. Nine people, all who would endure an Unforgivable Curse that would be the death of them.. They were the best, and they were the pride of Hogwarts Auror Age.

This is the story of their 6th year, and how they began to realize and fufill their destinies.

**Disclaimer:** It's all JK's, except for a few non-canon characters.

**Prologue**

By: _Empress M_

In the last compartment of the Hogwarts Express, sat an 11 year old girl , nervously chewing her nails. Her eyes were a stunning emerald green, and her hair a vibrant red. On the seat next to her sat a pile of books- the first and foremost being Hogwarts, A History. The girl was just about to pick it up when--

SLAM. The door to her compartment was loudly pushed open.

"And I'll say -- did you see that Hufflepuff prefect back there? Name of Henry Wright. My mum knows his mum or summin- but the bloody bloke winked at me! Can you imagine! The nerve of him that-that _boy_! Oh hello!"

The speaker of this lovely dialogue was a tall, _tall _girl, with wavy brunette locks that reached past her shoulders. She had bright, twinkling, but somewhat mysterious black eyes. She held the air of someone who knew exactly what she was talking about, and who talked a _lot_. Behind her stood a much, much shorter girl, but with the same colored light brown hair, except hers was cropped short. Her eyes were a soft hazel, almost yellow, and she appeared to be extremely shy.

"I'll say I've never seen you before," the tall girl smiled brightly at the young redhead in the seat. "What's your name?"

"L-lily," the girl removed her fingernails from her mouth. "L-lily Evans." She sat up straighter and tried to act lady-like and polite, just as her mother had showed her.

"Lovely! I'm Marlene -- Marlene Vance, that is, and this is my cousin, Emmeline Vance."

Marlene had seemed to take the name-exchanging as an invitation to sit down, so she plopped languidly on the seat opposite Lily. Then-most unexpectedly- she popped right back up, and in the midst of her newfound excitement, she hit her head on the ceiling of the compartment.

"Damn!" She swore, tenderly rubbing her head. Seeing Lily's startled look she swiftly apologized. "Sorry. Me mum says I curse like a terrible sailor -- but say, I just realized this -- you're a muggle, aren't you?" Her dark eyes gleamed with hope.

"A what?" Lily asked, feeling terribly confused.

"A muggle! Oh yes, Em we have a _real live_ muggle!" Marlene clapped her hands together excitedly. "Fancy that! Oh I'm dreadfully sorry Lily, its just that I've never met a _real _muggle before!"

"What's a muggle?" Lily asked, confusion etched on her face.

"It's what we -- the Wizarding Community, that is -- call non-magical folk. Like you! Oh Lily, don't you worry, I'll tell you absolutely bloody _everything _about the magical world!"

At this, a soft groan emanated from Emmeline in the corner.

"Do shut up, Em." Marlene said. "Well Lily, first I think I'll tell you about Hogwarts and how it started…"

**3 3 3**

An hour later, Marlene sat chatting away, while Lily, enraptured in the conversation, hung on her every word.

"… and then there's the Ministry, which is where Em and my dad's work," over in the corner, Emmeline reading Defense : The Perfect Escape, gave a short nod.

"See, the Ministry's got all these different departments. My dad works for the Magical Hit squad, and my mum works for the Department of International Magical Cooperation…"

Marlene's explanation of the Ministry of Magic was cut short, when a knock came from the compartment door. Marlene jumped up, excitedly muttering, "I wonder who that could be…" under her breath before sliding the door open with much enthusiasm.

"Alice! Oh how lovely it is to see you!" Marlene stepped aside and beckoned the newcomer in. "Lily this is a distant cousin of mine, Alice Fawcett. Alice, this is Lily Evans -- and she's a muggle!" Marlene emphasized the word "muggle" with great drama. Meanwhile, Lily looked at Alice.

She was short, not shorter than Emmeline, though, with pretty locks of blonde hair. She was a bit pudgy, but not too much, and had extremely gentle soft blue eyes, which were currently overflowing with tears. As soon as Marlene noticed this, she gasped and pulled Alice down into the seat.

"Oh Alice dear what's wrong?" she soothingly patted Alice's back, her eyes wide with sympathy and apprehension.

" They - _hic_- they-_hic_- stole my - _hic_ _hic_- cat!" Alice burst into a fresh bout of sobs, resting her head on Marlene's shoulder.

Marlene gasped.

"How _dare_ they! Who Alice, who stole your cat?" Alice didn't answer, just sobbed harder into Marlene's shoulder.

"Who?" Marlene grabbed Alice by the shoulders and shook her. This only caused Alice to sob harder and cling tighter to Marlene's shoulder.

This annoyed Marlene, so she roughly pushed her away and stood up.

"I'll find 'em Alice, and punish 'em," Marlene's eyes shone with a manic glint. "I'll hunt 'em down to the ends of the earth and punish 'em good!"

In her solitary corner, Emmeline Vance rolled her eyes.

"I'll punish 'em, till they wish they weren't alive!" Marlene exclaimed.

"You wouldn't!" Alice eyes, all tears forgotten, were wide as Galleons with shock.

" I would!" Marlene exclaimed proudly, causing Alice's eyes to grow even wider. "I'll -----"

What Marlene Vance would do next became a mystery to the girls, as at that very moment the compartment door slid open to reveal none other than James Potter, and Sirius Black.

**3 3 3**

"You!" Alice exclaimed. She pointed a finger at the two boys, sending an accusatory glare their way. "You stole Benjie!"

"We didn't steal 'im," James Potter said.

"We just borrowed 'im," Sirius Black continued.

"Without askin," James finished. They exchanged glances with each other, and began to snicker.

"How _DARE_ you!" Marlene said. "You give Alice her cat back," here Marlene poked Sirius in the chest, " Right - _poke_ - now -_poke_ !"

"Alright, alright!" Sirius gave her a look that made it clear he thought she was a madwoman. From behind his back he produced a slightly disheveled Benjie, and handed him to an overjoyed Alice.

"Hey…" James Potter's eyes settled on Lily. "I know Marly here, and Emmeline, and Alice… but who are you?"

"She." Marlene said, making her way to Lily's side, "is Lily Evans," she looked at Lily proudly, "A muggle!" Marlene swung her arm around Lily's shoulders as if she had known her all her life.

"A muggle?" James exchanged a glance with Sirius. "Really now…" As Lily looked at him, she had to admit that he was somewhat cute, with messy black hair and glasses.

"Welcome to the Wizarding World, Lily." he smiled and offered her his hand to shake.

"I wouldn't touch him if I were you, Lily…" Marlene removed her arm from Lily's shoulders and cast a wary look at James outstretched hand.

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"Why not? Well everyone knows why not," Marlene said, frowning. "Because boys, have _cooties_." Marlene said this with such a serious expression on her face that Lily had to try hard not to laugh. Sirius and James, on the other hand, elapsed into such a fit of laughter that Lily wasn't sure if they were breathing .

"It's true! Isn't it Alice! You saw Patty Patil's older sister the other day! She had that terrible cootie on her neck from David Jordans!"

"It's true, Lily," Alice said solemnly, while stroking Benjie.

"Oh come on Evans," James said, his eyes shining with innocence. "You really aren't going to believe old Marlene here, are you?"

_Well_, Lily thought, _he seems nice_. Her eyes roved over his face once more. Next to her Marlene was muttering warnings about "boy-diseases." Emmeline in the corner looked at Lily expectedly. Alice, still stroking Benjie, was listening raptly to Marlene's banter. Sirius was leaning against the door, looking slightly irritated (but sexily so) that Lily was taking so long to decide. And James, James stood in front of her, hand outstretched, smile showing off his gorgeous pearly white teeth.

Lily hesitated, and then sighed. She thrust her hand forward, and immediately felt fireworks shoot through her body, before she fainted.

**3 3 3**

Lily was woken by a soft voice, then a hand lightly patting her face. She could hear another, much less gentle, voice screeching in the background. Lily opened her eyes to see Emmeline crouching over her, hazel eyes worried. When she saw Lily was awake, she broke into a silly grin. Alice was sitting on the other side of Lily, stroking Benjie and holding Lily's small, pale hand tight.

"You could've bloody _killed_ her you bloody idiot!" Marlene was holding James up against the wall with one hand, while punching him in the stomach with her other one. James' face was screwed up with pain, whether from Marlene's voice being so close to his ear or his stomach being repeatedly punched, Lily did not know. Sirius was still leaning against the doorway, finding it highly amusing that his best mate was being beat up by a girl.

"Listen," James rasped, his voice hoarse. "I said I was sorry and --"

"_Sorry_! _Sorry_! Sorry doesn't cover it, you lousy buffoon! You know what you did? You took advantage of her being a muggle and tricked her! Yes James, you tricked her! That wasn't a prank! That was outright cruelty!" Marlene, done with her lecture, dropped James to the floor. She gave him a withering glare and turned towards Emmeline.

"Ah Lily, you're awake. Don't worry, there won't be any lasting damage. It was one of Dervish and Banges new _Shocking Starters_. Your supposed to swallow 'em in one gulp with a glass of mulled mead and it'll make you shake for a minute or so. _Or_," here, she glared at James, who gulped, " you can misuse it and send 600 jolts of power through a person's body by applying the right amount of pressure. Fortunately for you, that idiot," she jerked her head towards James again, " cut it down. So you only got about 150 jolts. And you'll live." She glared evilly at James. "But _he_ won't."

"Here Marlene," Alice said, looking worriedly at the crazed girl. "Maybe you should sit down…" She roughly grabbed Marlene and dragged her over to a seat. At any other moment Lily would have found it quite comical, short, little Alice forcing tall, strong Marlene to move, but now wasn't the time.

"Listen Evans," James said, coming over. "I really am sorry. Truly." he frowned when he saw the look of misbelief on Lily's face. " I didn't think you'd fall for it. Oldest trick in the books, and all that… you know?" He reached out kindly toward her. "Friends?"

This time he offered her his hand, face up so she could see that there was nothing in it. She looked at him, and then his hand, and said very coldly;

"Absolutely not, Potter." She spat out his name like venom. James sighed and Marlene nodded approvingly from the corner.

And this was how the 6 years of enmity and hate between Lily Evans and James Potter began.

3 3 3

**A/N:** So what do you think? Please, please review and tell me! I plan on making this a pretty long fanfic, and I will _not_ let it become AU, I will write everything according to HBP and some of the facts I learned from the interview JKR gave with Mugglenet and TLC. **R&R **please!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except for a few original characters and the plot. It's all JKs. :) 

**_Our Opening Scene_**

_by:_ EmpressMLP

Marlene Vance, Alice Prewett, Lily Evans, and Emmeline Vance were the four most respected and well-liked girls at Hogwarts. But on their 6th year journey, they'll realize that there's much more to life than that.

These four girls had just entered Platform 9 and Three Quarters. As soon as they did, all talking around them ceased for a moment, just to look at them and take in their absolute power. But, as in any situation, no one dares to look at others for long, lest they be accused of staring and therefore marked as "weird." So after a moment the bustling began again and the four girls were no longer observed .

"Not a very warm welcome," the tallest of these girls frowned. With tan skin, long light brown hair, and black twinkling eyes she was extremely pretty. The only oddity about her was that along with her artfully ripped muggle jeans, white t-shirt, hoop earrings and silver spangles, she had on knee-length black leather combat boots, something that one does not usually see during the summer.

"Can you blame them? After all that's gone on this summer?" The only blonde in the group answered the brunette with a morose expression. She had soft blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a short and somewhat rounded figure. She seemed to be the kind of person that hates bad news, but who could break it to you gently.

"It's terrible…" the shortest, and most likely least prettiest girl of the group sighed unromantically. She might have been pretty once, but now her hair was dyed lime green and purple, and cut spiked. Her appearance made her seem like one who had an exceptionally rough childhood, yet she led one of the easiest lives anyone could have. Up until this summer, that is.

"It is. Why would anyone want to do that? All those poor people…" possibly the most beautiful girl out of the four, with her stunning appearance of brilliant red hair and shining emerald eyes, she glanced upon the saddened students with a heavy heart.

"When the time comes, we'll fight it." the brunette answered firmly. "But for now, lets board the train." The other girls nodded in agreement, and headed toward the Hogwarts Express.

They boarded the train, and with no difficulty, as many young men had offered to help them with their trolleys. And as soon as their presence was recognized, a group of 4th year Ravenclaw boys left a compartment for them, in hopes of being invited back in. They did not merit such an invitation.

"I dropped Ancient Runes." were the first words out of the brunette's mouth as soon as they were settled.

"Marlene!" The redhead gasped. "How could you?"

Marlene shrugged. She let her shiny brown hair fall down her back and her eyes sparkled brightly in the afternoon sun. Many at Hogwarts would say that Marlene Vance was the most popular girl in the whole school, including the 7th years. She was extremely talented at DADA and Transfiguration, and made excellent marks in almost all of her subjects. She was a pureblood, and her family was extremely well connected. Her family was divided half and half; her mother's side being that which hated anything Dark Arts; her fathers side being of opinion that as long as they leave the purebloods alone they can be of no harm. Marlene herself was very pretty; although not as much as her best red-headed friend. She definitely had had the most boyfriends out of the group; for the reason that she was very playful and carefree, although when she had to be, she was dead serious.

"It was a waste of my time. Do Aurors need to know anything about Ancient Runes? I decided to apply myself in a different area of interest that would better suit my aspiring profession."

Marlene liked using big words. And unlike most people, she knew exactly what they meant. It was partly due to the fact that her mother had had her tutored since she was two, and Marlene learned to read at the age of 3. By her 11th birthday, she could beat Confucius in any logical debate.

"Which would be?" sitting on the floor, the blonde was painting her toenails a bright pink with her wand.

" Muggle Studies!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Oh no…" the red-head shook her head, smiling.

"Won't it be wonderful! Aurors have to deal with Muggles a lot, so I figured it would be just swell for me to have some type of background with them! And finally I'll be able to understand Lily!"

The three other girls giggled, and the red-headed one called Lily whacked Marlene with _Quintencesse, A Quest_.

"Marly, I highly doubt that you could ever understand me." she smiled. Lily Evans was the type of girl that could take an insult and spit it right back at you. She was definitely one of the most popular girls at school, and used her power well, helping younger students. She was academically the best in her year, and also the most well liked. Even Alice had enemies. But Lily, Lily Evans only had one enemy. And that was James Potter.

"Your right. Probably not. You are an extremely complex person who does not wish to have her own personal mysteries unraveled. Which is exactly why James Potter is so intent on having you and finding out all your secrets." Marlene smirked, while the blonde giggled.

"Please, Marly can we for once not talk about James Potter? I had enough of him this summer."

"Sorry Lily. I forgot how much it pains you to hear a mention of his existence." Marlene sniggered.

"Really, Lily, I don't see how he's all that bad…" the blonde on the floor smiled tentatively. "First of all he looks rather… sweet."

Marlene gasped. "Is that our Alice making a remark about a boy! Yes! She has moved on from her bloody prude-ness state into a world that we all recognize! What a momentous occasion!"

It was, actually, a momentous occasion if you considered the blonde. Alice Prewett was very well known for her prudish ways and her general indifference towards boys. Brought up in a humble but courageous pure-blooded family, Alice was a very wonderful person to be around, someone who always stood very strongly in her beliefs. The first and foremost of them being that the Dark Arts would be the death of the Wizarding Race. How right she would be…

"Don't sound so surprised, Marlene. I have done quite a lot of growing up over this summer." Alice said, rather pleased with herself at getting Marlene so excited.

"Alice, we do not want to hear about your pubes." Marlene said, a disgusted look on her face.

"Ewww!" Lily shrieked. She threw her Advanced Charms textbook at Marlene, who (employing her talents as a star Chaser) caught it deftly with her left hand. She dropped it on the shortest girls head.

"Marlene, I really don't want to hear any of that rubbish right now." Emmeline Vance, spiked hair, bad temper, and all could not keep a smile from her face. She enjoyed Marlene jokes, although wild hippogriffs couldn't get her to admit it. Emmeline and Marlene were first cousins and the best of friends when they were smaller. But as they grew older they grew apart. Emmeline loved to draw and loved solitude. Marlene loved to read, but she also loved people and hated being alone. It was what made her so much more companionable and popular then Emmeline, especially with the boys.

"Sorry Em. Wouldn't want to tear you away from your fantasies about Sirius Black now, would I?" Marlene teased playfully.

"You shut up." Emmeline cast her a withering glare and returned to staring out the window. Marlene simply shrugged and went back to verbally torturing Alice.

"I'm sure, Alice dear, that as much as you have physically matured over the summer and as however interesting it may be, you might not want to talk to us about it. I think that Frank Longbottom would be a much more suitable candidate." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Lily laughed and Alice turned a bright red.

"Shut your pie-hole Marlene. Frank is a wonderful person and, my _friend_." She said the last word with such conviction that Marlene had to laugh.

"Oh alright Alice dear. You know I was just joking." Marlene smiled, turned around and smacked her lips loudly at Lily, who buried her head in her textbook to prevent herself from laughing.

"Besides, I'm not the one who has 'physically matured' over the summer. Just look at Lily!"

Lily Evans blushed and hugged her book to her chest.

"She's almost as curvy as you, Marlene!" Alice exclaimed, looking at Lily with admiration.

"Are you serious? Alice you know that nobody is as curvy as me." Marlene smiled and puffed her chest out. This threw the group of girls into another set of laughter, and teasing, and the train ride progressed.

"Have you seen Lily yet, Prongs?" Sirius Black, in all manners of his glory, strutted down the train with his head held high. Next to him, James Potter, in all his glory, also strutted down the train. Never apart were those two, they lived so closely with each other that they had begun to walk the same.

"Nah. You don't think she's avoiding me do you Pads?" A frown spread across James face. The mere thought of Lily avoiding him brought him down.

"Course not. Why would anyone avoid you, James Potter, God of All." Remus Lupin, a constant source of satirical wit, smirked and lengthened his stride to catch up with Sirius and James.

"Exactly! Why would anyone want to avoid me? Brilliant point Moony, you just do loads for my self esteem." James frowned and punched Remus in the arm, while Sirius laughed at the Remus's remark. "No seriously guys," James said his big hazel eyes wide with innocence, "Do you think Lily is avoiding me?"

Remus rolled his eyes and Sirius laughed once again, pushing Remus ahead of him and leaving James in an utter tizzy.

"So then he came up to me, and he was drunk, (I mean, how could he _not _be drunk, considering that he had all that Odgen's stored under his bed?) and said to me 'So Marly', except he slurred it horribly, so it sounded more like, 'Somrluy' and-- Lily stop snickering!"

Lily Evans brought down her textbook from her face, final stopping her vain efforts to hide her amusment at Marlene's impersonation of her latest love interest.

"Sorry Marly its just--" and she went off again into a fit of giggles.

"Well I've had about enough of Marlene's summer love stories," interrupted Alice, "Lily, why don't you tell us about _your _holiday romance."

"Yes Lily, do tell." Marlene requested, allowing a smirk to cross her face.

"I know for a fact that you had several encounters with a certain James Potter over the summer." Alice said, arching her eyebrow artfully.

"Oh please. I talked with him once at Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop; it can hardly be called a scene of passionate love."

"Really now? I could swear that I heard a tale of James ravishing you on top of old Fortrescue's countertop." Marlene winked.

"You are absolutely disgusting." Lily countered. "All we did was talk about **classes**."

"Sure..." Marlene said, suggestively raising her eyebrows.

"I'm serious. All we did was talk about the Hogwarts curriculuum. You know, classes and all that. Which reminds me, Marly--"

"Oh I don't want to hear it miss Perfect-Prefect Evans," Marlene drawled, now stretching across the length of the compartment seat.

"The prefect meeting! Bloody -- I almost forgot-- thank you Marlene!" In a whirlwind of movement, Lily stood up, reached into her trunk, retrieved her prefect badge and slammed the compartment door behind her.

"That girl." Alice said, shaking her head. Marlene stretched out even farther, and laughed.

"And now, students, I have only two words for you: Tuck In!"

"Finally!" Marlene said, anxiously tapping her gold-plated fork on the table. "I'm so hungry I could eat Emmeline!"

"I rather don't fancy being your dinner, Marly." Emmeline said, barely taking her eyes off the mounds of food in front of her.

"Sure you do! Why, just last week we were discussing the options of marinating yourself in Italian dressing! Remember?" Marlene smiled, heaping mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"Got enough there, Vance?"

The voice over Marlene's shoulder made all four of the girls stop in their frenzied actions of gathering food. After all, it was said that Sirius Black made even _McGonagall_ stop in her tracks.

_He smells wonderful, _Marlene thought, slightly wistfulfully. "Sure do, Black. Did you come over here to give us a show, or would you like some potatoes?" She smiled up at him, her voice layared with fake sweetness.

"Both, dear." He laughed, put his hands on his waist, and swiftly did a little dance. Alice erupted in giggles, Emmeline blushed violently, Lily smiled, rolling her eyes, and Marlene clapped.

"Dance for your supper, that's right Black. Here you go." Marlene smiled, and handed him the bowl of mashed potatoes. He saluted her, and walked back to his end of the table. All the girls followed him with their eyes (it was hard not to), and looking at him as he sat down, Lily found herself meeting the gaze of James Potter, whom, it had appeared, had been watching her all along.

She blushed, almost as brightly as Emmeline, before turning back to her supper, and hearing Marlene's discussion with Alice about the apparent firmness of one Sirius Black's buttocks.

"You know girls," Marlene said, starting her customary "First-Night-In-the-Dorm" speech of the year, "We have only **two** years left at Hogwarts. Two!"

"Its depressing." Lily murmured from her bed on one side of Marlene.

"It is." agreed Emmeline from the other side.

"So what?" Alice said, propping herself up on her elbows, "All it means is that we've _got _to try harder this year, in... well everything."

"Yeah" Marlene said, rather wistfully.

"Like keeping a steady boyfriend." Lily said, lightly hitting Marlene with her pillow.

"They all seem to escape from me..." Marlene retorted tiredly. "I can't help it..."

"Escape from you!" Alice cried, "Marlene, you've invented more excuses for dumping a boythan I thought was even possible!"

"I can't help the fact that I ... stray. By Godric, it's my _nature._" she countered defensively.

"We know Marly, we know." Lily answered, attempting to calm the newly arisen tension in the room.

"Well anyway, having many boyfriends, even if not for long Alice snorted is better than having no boyfriend at all... or denying the boy I truly like." Marlene said smugly.

"I think that's enough, Marly." Emmeline said. After a few long, tense moments of silence, Marlene spoke again.

"Ah pumpkin shit. Who even cares about boys anyway?"

One at a time, each girl began to giggle, until all were absolutley possesed with a fit of outrageous laughter.

"I'll tell you who," said Alice, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "Dorcas Meadowes, thats who gives a pumpkin shit."

Marlene giggled in reply and said, "Did you hear about what she did with that _awful _Hufflepuff keeper behind the greenhouse?"

And so the first night commenced, and as each girl finally shut her eyes for sleep, they closed with a comfortable assurance that they had three best friends in the world; that nothing nor noone could bring apart.

**A/N:** So what did you think? Please leave me a review!


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